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The following type style commands are supported by LaTeX.
In the table below the listed commands, the \text...
commands,
is used with an argument, as in \textit{text}
. This is
the preferred form. But shown after it, in parenthesis, is the
corresponding declaration form, which is sometimes useful. This form
takes no arguments, as in {\itshape text}
. The scope of
the declaration form lasts until the next type style command or the end
of the current group. In addition, each has an environment form such as
\begin{itshape}...\end{itshape}
.
These commands, in both the argument form and the declaration form, are
cumulative; for instance you can get bold sans serif by saying either of
\sffamily\bfseries
or \bfseries\sffamily
.
One advantage of these commands is that they automatically insert italic
corrections if needed (see \/). Specifically, they insert the
italic correction unless the following character is in the list
\nocorrlist
, which by default consists of a period and a comma.
To suppress the automatic insertion of italic correction, use
\nocorr
at the start or end of the command argument, such as
\textit{\nocorr text}
or \textsc{text \nocorr}
.
\textrm (\rmfamily)
Roman.
\textit (\itshape)
Italics.
\textmd (\mdseries)
Medium weight (default).
\textbf (\bfseries)
Boldface.
\textup (\upshape)
Upright (default).
\textsl (\slshape)
Slanted.
\textsf (\sffamily)
Sans serif.
\textsc (\scshape)
Small caps.
\texttt (\ttfamily)
Typewriter.
\textnormal (\normalfont)
Main document font.
Although it also changes fonts, the \emph{text}
command
is semantic, for text to be emphasized, and should not be used as a
substitute for \textit
. For example, \emph{start
text \emph{middle text} end text}
will result in the
start text and end text in italics, but middle text
will be in roman.
LaTeX also provides the following commands, which unconditionally
switch to the given style, that is, are not cumulative. They are
used as declarations: {\cmd...}
instead of
\cmd{...}
.
(The unconditional commands below are an older version of font switching. The earlier commands are an improvement in most circumstances. But sometimes an unconditional font switch is precisely what you want.)
\bf
Switch to bold face.
\cal
Switch to calligraphic letters for math.
\it
Italics.
\rm
Roman.
\sc
Small caps.
\sf
Sans serif.
\sl
Slanted (oblique).
\tt
Typewriter (monospace, fixed-width).
The \em
command is the unconditional version of \emph
.
The following commands are for use in math mode. They are not
cumulative, so \mathbf{\mathit{symbol}}
does not
create a boldface and italic symbol; instead, it will just be in
italics. This is because typically math symbols need consistent
typographic treatment, regardless of the surrounding environment.
\mathrm
Roman, for use in math mode.
\mathbf
Boldface, for use in math mode.
\mathsf
Sans serif, for use in math mode.
\mathtt
Typewriter, for use in math mode.
\mathit
(\mit)
Italics, for use in math mode.
\mathnormal
For use in math mode, e.g., inside another type style declaration.
\mathcal
Calligraphic letters, for use in math mode.
In addition, the command \mathversion{bold}
can be used for
switching to bold letters and symbols in
formulas. \mathversion{normal}
restores the default.
Finally, the command \oldstylenums{numerals}
will typeset
so-called “old-style” numerals, which have differing heights and
depths (and sometimes widths) from the standard “lining” numerals,
which all have the same height as uppercase letters. LaTeX’s
default fonts support this, and will respect \textbf
(but not
other styles; there are no italic old-style numerals in Computer
Modern). Many other fonts have old-style numerals also; sometimes the
textcomp
package must be loaded, and sometimes package options
are provided to make them the default. FAQ entry:
http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=osf.